Anonymous wrote:To all you Harvard grads or wounded souls who get your jollies bullying people who don't spell "good":

Many famous novelists have been poor spellers and punctuators.

That Scott Fitzgerald could hardly spell - and that his manuscripts needed to be edited with huge care as a result - doesn't make The Great Gatsby less of an achievement.

Tolstoy was a terrible speller.

Flannery O’Connor was terrible at spelling, a problem that lasted her entire life.

There are so many examples, um... Einstein.

"If D-U-R-T don't spell dirt, what do it spell?"

Rufus Wilks


It's what you say that matters.
Only dim ass holes gonna care how you spellt it.
"Anonymous"

LOL. If you really meant this, you wouldn't be obsessing over whether KGES's SOL scores are lower than those at Chesterbrook or Churchill Road. SOLs aren't IQ tests, nor are they designed to predict who might go on to pen the next Great American Novel. If you think spelling and grammar are overrated, then chill the hell out about SOLs.

To all you Harvard grads or wounded souls who get your jollies bullying people who don't spell "good":

Many famous novelists have been poor spellers and punctuators.

That Scott Fitzgerald could hardly spell - and that his manuscripts needed to be edited with huge care as a result - doesn't make The Great Gatsby less of an achievement.

Tolstoy was a terrible speller.

Flannery O’Connor was terrible at spelling, a problem that lasted her entire life.

There are so many examples, um... Einstein.

"If D-U-R-T don't spell dirt, what do it spell?"

Rufus Wilks


It's what you say that matters.
Only dim ass holes gonna care how you spellt it.
"Anonymous"

It's "Treesus Christ" === kind of like grilled cheesus (i.e. Glee).

http://wusa9.com/news/article/140721/77/McLean-Va-Family-Sees-Image-Of-Jesus-In-Tree

And they wonder why their test scores are lower?

Anonymous wrote:I get the sense the angry poster(s) who keep defending Kent Gardens in such an obnoxious way is one person sock puppeting. A school administration needs to be willing to look at flaws/weaknesses at the school and work to improve them. Why not get an outside consulting group the conduct a survey of parents and then make recomendations to the admin...unless of course you prefer a dictatorship where people are afraid to come forward and express discontent.

Is the principal even coming back? Every year I hear rumors she may retire.

Trust me, there are multiple posters who think Pomme Sauvage is over-the-top. Personally, I'd prefer that funds be used to hire extra teachers, or raise teacher salaries, rather than to hire an outside consultant to produce a study that only a few people will ever read and that concludes "lines of communication can be improved" or sets forth similar platitudes.

Pomme Sauvage wants all the KGES administrators and teachers rated on-line. I'd give her efforts a D+.

I get the sense the angry poster(s) who keep defending Kent Gardens in such an obnoxious way is one person sock puppeting. A school administration needs to be willing to look at flaws/weaknesses at the school and work to improve them. Why not get an outside consulting group the conduct a survey of parents and then make recomendations to the admin...unless of course you prefer a dictatorship where people are afraid to come forward and express discontent.

Is the principal even coming back? Every year I hear rumors she may retire.

Anonymous wrote:September 10, 2007
This is from the advocate before Pomme Sauvage. They come and go so keep on criticizing. At least now there’s a blog to capture the sins of the leaders.
“At Kent Gardens, it appears that no good deed goes unpunished. In December, I was dismissed as the lead room parent via e-mail. This happened a week after sending a letter to FCPS Supervisor Jack Dale and only two days prior to our parent meeting with the Cluster 1 Superintendent Audra Sydnor. Then, in March, I was fired via certified letter from my PTA Legislative Liaison position with a less-than-clear explanation. Apparently, my ability to effectively voice valid parental concerns and organize parents into an effective deliberating body was a threat to our principal and our PTA President’s authority. …the PTA secretary resigned in disgust over the Principal’s PTA discussions about how to minimize my participation at the school with the PTA…..after receipt of my daughter’s disappointing math SOL scores, we made the decision to move our children …from Kent Gardens.”

Beware parents.

Is the "advocate" a paid position, like the Taxpayer's Advocate at the IRS?

If the 9/10/07 post is legitimate, it establishes that there at least two moms in the KGES district whose purple prose and lack of self-awareness (i.e., writing as if "the day of my daughter's disappointing math SOL scores" is a date that will go down in history, for future generations to study) is truly stunning.

I pray - and I mean that sincerely - that you don't still have children at KGES. There are ways to work effectively behind the scenes to get a bad principal replaced, if that's what this is ultimately all about. Making a complete ass of yourself by creating "rate my teacher" web sites and the like is not one of them.

September 10, 2007
This is from the advocate before Pomme Sauvage. They come and go so keep on criticizing. At least now there’s a blog to capture the sins of the leaders.
“At Kent Gardens, it appears that no good deed goes unpunished. In December, I was dismissed as the lead room parent via e-mail. This happened a week after sending a letter to FCPS Supervisor Jack Dale and only two days prior to our parent meeting with the Cluster 1 Superintendent Audra Sydnor. Then, in March, I was fired via certified letter from my PTA Legislative Liaison position with a less-than-clear explanation. Apparently, my ability to effectively voice valid parental concerns and organize parents into an effective deliberating body was a threat to our principal and our PTA President’s authority. …the PTA secretary resigned in disgust over the Principal’s PTA discussions about how to minimize my participation at the school with the PTA…..after receipt of my daughter’s disappointing math SOL scores, we made the decision to move our children …from Kent Gardens.”

Beware parents.

Anonymous wrote:Insofar as you have tried to blame the "shrill" and "lame" advocate for change at KGES. Here's the POLL figures.

Does KGES Need New Management?

YES! YES! YES! 46 (65%)
No. I love it how it is. 20 (28%)
How Dare You? 4 (5%)

Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 70
Days left to vote: 606

Grade the Principal
A 14 (24%)
B 3 (5%)
C 5 (8%)
D 13 (22%)
F 22 (38%)

Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 57
Days left to vote: 3530

Undoubtedly, voting early and often is encouraged.

Anonymous wrote:It is funny you mention Ms. Lorenze. She actually left KGES because of how aweful she felt the school was. She is much happier at Springhill. What is your point?

She does a better job of wanting to change Kent Gardens. She left. She had options.

You don't know what you're talking about.

This blog is about KGES. If you don't go here, what can you possibly have to contribute?

It's awful, not aweful (and you're surprised KGES kids don't test as well as kids in other districts)?

Even if there's a kernal of truth in your criticisms, the way you have gone about publicizing the silly "P.E.E.L" blog has made you a caricature of a pushy helicopter parent.

And the fact that you react so viscerally when challenged ("you don't know what you're talking about") only increases your ridiculoussness quotient. If you want to have a public debate about the competency of others, don't be a whiny baby about it.

And, the MLS listing you provided, didn't give the data implied in the ealier post.

http://franklymls.com/

Insofar as you have tried to blame the "shrill" and "lame" advocate for change at KGES. Here's the POLL figures.

Does KGES Need New Management?

YES! YES! YES! 46 (65%)
No. I love it how it is. 20 (28%)
How Dare You? 4 (5%)

Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 70
Days left to vote: 606

Grade the Principal
A 14 (24%)
B 3 (5%)
C 5 (8%)
D 13 (22%)
F 22 (38%)

Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 57
Days left to vote: 3530


We know where you stand.

Again, none of you are going to know each other in ten years so you better start putting the education of your children first instead of how many friends you have and how many people you think actually respect you.

And, the MLS listing you proided, didn't give the date implied in the ealier post.

It is funny you mention Ms. Lorenze. She actually left KGES because of how aweful she felt the school was. She is much happier at Springhill. What is your point?

She does a better job of wanting to change Kent Gardens. She left. She had options.

You don't know what you're talking about.

This blog is about KGES. If you don't go here, what can you possibly have to contribute?

Catherine?

Anonymous wrote:
That would be great, but you've got to provide the data sources. We can't just take your word for it. Additionally, 50% of the students at KGES come from outside our boundaries, from places like Haycock, Springill, Chesterbrook, etc. Only half of your numbers apply if those are good numbers to begin with. If you review the Spring Hill scores specifically, they have progressed from a lower peforming school to one of the highest performing schools thanks to the new Principal they have who has been willing to work and improve the school. It again makes the case that we need new management at KGES and we could be doing much better if we had the change in management that our kids deserve.

Obviously, you are in realestate and you want to sell homes to people who would have to go to KGES and you don't want them to know there are much better schools to attend in McLean. I hope you will help support the change we need so that people will want to live here because they KNOW it is a good place to live and not because people have LIED to them or buried the TRUTH.

You can pull the data off franklymls.com and need not be a real estate professional to do so.

Your hypothesis is that the performance of KGES students on SOL tests relative to other McLean schools (1) should be a cause for serious concern; and (2) is entirely the responsibility of the current KGES administration.

A competing view would be that (1) even if KGES students do not perform as well on those tests as other McLean schools, they still do quite well; (2) an excessive focus on standardized tests may take away from other education that is taking place in a classroom; and (3) insofar as there is generally a correlation between income levels and standardized test scores, one would expect to see KGES students, on average, not perform at quite the same level as Spring Hill, Chesterbrook, etc.

You are free to make your case, although your single-minded focus on SOL test results and diatribes against the KGES administration create the strong impression that you are motivated by a personal vendetta against the principal that relates specifically to your own children, rather than by a desire to enhance the quality of education for all KGES students.

Through more skilled, and less shrill, advocacy, you might be able to rebut that impression, but at present you simply are not achieving what you purportedly hope to accomplish. It's not that references to "apples" are bad per se (the "Red Apple Mom" blog maintained by Catherine Lorenze, for example, is rather effective), but the "Pomme Sauvage" and "PEEL" for "Parents Education Enlightenment League" monikers are just flat-out lame.